IV 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. RES. 597 

Urging the Government of the People’s Republic of China to respect the 

freedom of assembly, expression, and religion and all fundamental human 

rights and the rule of law for all its citizens and to stop censoring 

discussion of the 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstrations and their 

violent suppression. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 23, 2014 

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey submitted the following resolution; which was 

referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

RESOLUTION 

Urging the Government of the People’s Republic of China 

to respect the freedom of assembly, expression, and religion and all fundamental human rights and the rule 

of law for all its citizens and to stop censoring discussion 

of the 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstrations and their 

violent suppression. 

Whereas on June 4, 1989, peaceful demonstrations held in 

and around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square were brutally 

crushed by the People’s Liberation Army, carrying out 

the orders of China’s Communist Party leadership; 

Whereas the peaceful demonstrations of 1989 called upon the 

Chinese Communist Party to eliminate corruption, accelerate economic and political reforms, and protect human 


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•HRES 597 IH 

rights, particularly the freedoms of expression and assembly; 

Whereas by early May 1989, an estimated 1,000,000 people 

joined the protests in Tiananmen Square and citizens in 

over 400 Chinese cities staged similar protests for democratic reform, including not only students, but also government employees, journalists, workers, police officers, 

members of the armed forces, and other citizens; 

Whereas on May 20, 1989, martial law was declared in Beijing, China, after authorities had failed to persuade demonstrators to leave Tiananmen Square; 

Whereas during the late afternoon and early evening hours 

of June 3, 1989, thousands of armed troops, supported 

by tanks and other armor, moved into Beijing to ‘‘clear 

the Square’’ and surrounding streets of demonstrators; 

Whereas on the night of June 3, 1989, and continuing into 

the morning of June 4, 1989, soldiers fired into crowds, 

inflicting high civilian casualties, killing or injuring unarmed civilians; 

Whereas tanks crushed to death some protesters and onlookers; 

Whereas independent observers report that hundreds, perhaps 

thousands, were killed and wounded by the People’s Liberation Army soldiers and other security forces; 

Whereas 20,000 people throughout China suspected of taking 

part in the democracy movement were reportedly arrested 

and sentenced without trial to prison or reeducation 

through labor, and many were reportedly tortured, with 

many being imprisoned for decades; 

Whereas the Tiananmen Mothers is a group of relatives and 

friends of those killed in June 1989 whose demands inVerDate Mar 15 2010 21:36 May 23, 2014 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR597.IH HR597

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•HRES 597 IH 

clude the right to mourn victims publicly, to call for a full 

and public accounting of the wounded and dead, and the 

release of those who remain imprisoned for participating 

in the 1989 protests; 

Whereas members of the Tiananmen Mothers group have 

faced arrest, harassment, and discrimination, with the 

group’s website blocked in China and international cash 

donations made to the group to support families of victims reportedly frozen by Chinese authorities; 

Whereas the Chinese Government undertakes active measures 

to deny its citizens the truth about the Tiananmen 

Square Massacre, including the blocking of uncensored 

Internet sites and weblogs, and the placement of misleading information on the events of June 3, 1989, 

through June 4, 1989, on Internet sites available in 

China; 

Whereas the Chinese Government continues to suppress dissent by imprisoning pro-democracy activists, lawyers, 

journalists, labor union leaders, religious believers, members of ethnic minority rights organizations, and other individuals in Xinjiang and Tibet who seek to express their 

political or religious views or their ethnic identity in a 

peaceful manner; 

Whereas Chinese authorities continue to harass and detain 

peaceful advocates for human rights, religious freedom, 

ethnic minority rights and the rule of law, and their family members, such as Nobel Prize Laureate Liu Xiaobo 

and his wife Liu Xia, Gao Zhisheng, Wang Bingzhang, 

Peng Ming, Zhu Yufu, Lobsang Tsering, Ilham Tohti, 

Yang Maodong (also known as Guo Feixiong), Sun 

Desheng, Liu Yuandong, Guo Quan, Liu Xianbin, Yang 

Rongli, Alimujiang Yimiti, Yang Tianshui, Wang Zhiwen, 


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•HRES 597 IH 

Li Chang, Gulmira Imin, Dhondup Wangchen, and Chen 

Kegui, nephew of blind human rights activists Chen 

Guangcheng; 

Whereas according the Prisoner Database maintained by the 

United States Congressional-Executive Commission on 

China, the Communist Government of China continues to 

detain over 1,300 prisoners of conscience, though the 

number may be much higher; 

Whereas the Chinese authorities continues to maintain a system of labor camps and ‘‘black jails’’ to detain peaceful 

advocates for human rights and democratic freedoms, 

harasses and detains human rights lawyers who take on 

cases deemed politically sensitive, limits the number of 

children Chinese couples may have, including through the 

practice of forced abortions and sterilizations, restricts 

severely the religious activity of Protestants, Catholics, 

Tibetan Buddhists, and Uyghur Muslims, conducted a 

15-year campaign to eradicate Falun Gong practice in 

China, publicly vilifies, and refuses to negotiate with, the 

Dalai Lama over Tibetan issues, and, forcibly repatriates 

thousands of refugees to North Korea who face persecution, imprisonment, and possible execution in violation of 

its international commitments; 

Whereas the Government of China maintains tight control of 

speech, religion, and assembly, and has continually received poor rankings focused on civil liberties and political rights by nongovernmental organizations; 

Whereas the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom’s most recent annual report has found 

that the ‘‘Chinese government continues to perpetrate 

particularly severe violations of religious freedom’’, with 

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ade’’ for religious minorities, findings which again contributed to the Commission recommending that China be 

designated as a ‘‘country of particular concern’’; 

Whereas the United States Department of State’s most recent human rights report on China found ‘‘extrajudicial 

killings’’ occurred in China; 

Whereas the United States Department of State’s most recent human rights report on China found that government continued to target ‘‘for arbitrary detention or arrest’’ ‘‘human rights activists, journalists . . . and 

former political prisoners and their family members’’; 

Whereas freedom of expression and assembly are fundamental human rights that belong to all people, and are 

recognized as such under the Universal Declaration of 

Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil 

and Political Rights; and 

Whereas a government of China which respects the individual 

rights of all its people would be more likely to have productive economic, political, and security relations with its 

neighbors and the United States: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

2 (1) urges the Government of the People’s Re3 public of China to stop censoring information about 

4 the Tiananmen Square massacre; 

5 (2) expresses sympathy to the families of those 

6 killed, tortured, and imprisoned as a result of their 

7 participation in the democracy protests of June 4, 

8 1989, in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, in the People’s 

9 Republic of China; 


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1 (3) supports all peaceful advocates for human 

2 rights and the rule of law in China for their efforts 

3 to advance democratic reforms and human rights 

4 during the past; 

5 (4) condemns the ongoing human rights abuses 

6 and persecution by the Government of the People’s 

7 Republic of China and its efforts to quell peaceful 

8 political dissent, censor the Internet, suppress ethnic 

9 and religious minorities, limit the number of children 

10 had by Chinese couples through coercion and vio11 lence, and harass and detain lawyers and freedom 

12 advocates seeking the Government’s commitment, in 

13 law and practice, to international human rights trea14 ties and covenants to which it is a party; 

15 (5) calls on the Broadcasting Board of Gov16 ernors (BBG) to take all appropriate steps to cir17 cumvent Chinese internet censorship and to provide 

18 information to the people of China about the 

19 Tiananmen Square Massacre; 

20 (6) calls on the United States Government to— 

21 (A) make human rights, including religious 

22 freedom, a priority in bilateral discussions with 

23 the Chinese Government; and 

24 (B) instruct the United States representa25 tive at the United Nations Human Rights 


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1 Council to introduce a resolution calling for an 

2 examination of the human rights practices of 

3 the Government of the People’s Republic of 

4 China; 

5 (7) calls on the Government of the People’s Re6 public of China to— 

7 (A) end the harassment, detention, torture, 

8 and imprisonment of Chinese citizens express9 ing their legitimate freedom of religion, expres10 sion, and association, including on the Internet; 

11 (B) release all remaining prisoners of con12 science who continue to be detained as a result 

13 of their participation in the peaceful pro-democ14 racy demonstrations in 1989, especially around 

15 Tiananmen Square; 

16 (C) end the harassment and discrimination 

17 of those involved in the 1989 protests and their 

18 families, permit Chinese citizens to freely com19 memorate and share information about 

20 Tiananmen; 

21 (D) allow protest participants who escaped 

22 to or are living in exile in the United States 

23 and other countries, or who reside outside of 

24 China because they have been ‘‘blacklisted’’ in 

25 China as a result of their peaceful protest activVerDate Mar 15 2010 21:36 May 23, 2014 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR597.IH HR597

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1 ity, to return to China without risk of retribu2 tion or repercussion and fully repeal any laws 

3 or decrees that deny them the ability to travel 

4 to China; and 

5 (E) end Internet, media, and academic 

6 censorship of discussions of the Tiananmen 

7 Protests and events surrounding it; 

8 (8) calls on the Administration and Members of 

9 Congress to take steps to continue to mark the 

10 events of Tiananmen Square— 

11 (A) meeting with participants in the dem12 onstrations, or their families, who are living in 

13 the United States; 

14 (B) meeting with others outside of China 

15 who have been ‘‘blacklisted’’ in China as a re16 sult of their peaceful protest activities; 

17 (C) signaling support for those in China 

18 who demand an independent and credible ac19 counting of the events surrounding June 4, 

20 1989; and 

21 (D) supporting those advocating for ac22 countable and democratic governance, human 

23 rights, and the rule of law in China; and 

24 (9) finds that United States relations with 

25 China are more likely to further improve once the 


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•HRES 597 IH 

1 government recognizes and respects the individual 

2 human rights of all its people. 

Æ 


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